


Howl

by dexsnursey (nerdy_farm_girl)



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: (dex gets into a fight and there's blood), 13 Days of Halloween, Blood, First Kiss, Getting Together, M/M, Magic, Minor Violence, druid lardo, everything else is the same, kitchen witch bitty, werewolf dex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-28
Updated: 2016-10-28
Packaged: 2018-08-27 11:20:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8399680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdy_farm_girl/pseuds/dexsnursey
Summary: Over his first few weeks at Samwell, Dex becomes sure of three things. 1) Eric Bittle is not entirely human, 2) Larissa Duan is most certainly a Druid, and 3) Derek Fucking Nurse is the most annoying person he’s ever met in his life.





	

**Author's Note:**

> All characters belong to Ngozi!
> 
> This has not been thoroughly edited at all, so please forgive me for what is sure to be a plethora of mistakes with in.

Every time William Poindexter leaves Mount Desert Island, he’s taking a risk. He knows this, it’s something that’s been drilled into his head since he was small, but he still makes the 5 hour drive down to Marblehead, Massachusetts every summer to work on his Uncle Charlie’s lobster boat. Charlie isn’t like Dex and the rest of their family up in Maine, but he _knows_ enough that Dex’s mother felt comfortable enough letting him go. But going to college in Massachusetts? That was an uphill battle.

He’s heard the whispers, okay, it’s almost impossible not to, with the enhanced hearing and all. They think he’s trying to rebel against his alpha; they think he’s trying to prove he’s more than just the pup that grew up in his eldest sister shadow. But he’s not, he’s really, really not. He knows the rules, and he knows what he’s _supposed_ to do, but trying to make a living driving a log truck like his dad or barely breaking even in the Hardware/Repair shop like his other uncles doesn’t seem all that appealing. But as he well enough knows, being away from the pack comes with its own risks, regardless of distance.

Dex was born a werewolf, into a well-established pack that coexists peacefully with the human population of Tremont, ME. It’s a prime location, with a small year round population and an influx of tourists in the summer and fall. Tourists reporting the occasional sighting of glowing eyes, or strange tracks in the woods aren’t all that harmful, and the locals have long since learned to turn a blind eye to the strangeness that seems to hover around the outskirts of their town. The Poindexter’s have lived on Mount Desert Island for years, but the Cote’s have been there longer, tracing their bloodlines back to trappers that used to come to the island long before the English settlers got their hands on it. They weren’t werewolves then, that didn’t happen until the Civil War, but the Cote Pack is still considered American Werewolf Royalty…. Without the money. But Dex’s mom doesn’t need money to be an alpha, and she certainly doesn’t need it to be beloved by their pack. It was a shock when she inherited the rank at the young age of 24, newly married with a baby on the way. Her father had died suddenly while on a trip to the north woods, ambushed by a Hunter with a wolfsbane bullet. The pack was more than a little surprised that Colleen received the powers instead of her brother Tim, but the siblings themselves were more than happy with the arrangement. While the pack mourned their loss, Colleen tried to hide her fears regarding her own competency – and the fact that she was in the early stages of pregnancy when the change happened. But Dex’s elder sister Katherine was born perfectly healthy, and over the next twenty years, the Cote Pack continued to grow and thrive.

Dex was born two years after Katherine, with flaming red hair like his father and eyes that glowed yellow when he cried. He can still remember the days leading up to kindergarten, when his mom and Uncle Tim had sat him and his cousin Nicole down and explained to them that they were different than the rest of the kids at school. They had to learn control from such a young age, had to learn how to keep their eyes from flashing when they got upset, how to slow their reflexes down just slightly, how not to bare their teeth and extend their claws when they got angry. There were older werewolves at school with them, siblings and cousins (which included non-blood members of the pack). Dex still slipped up sometimes, he _was_ only five, after all, but the teachers seemed to turn a blind eye and most of the kids forgot about it after a couple of days.  

He earns the nickname Dex when he’s seven and playing little league. His friend Teddy had just learned the word ambidextrous, which meant that all the kids on the team were attempting to throw baseballs with their non-dominant hands. Everyone’s throws were skewed, falling short and going in the wrong direction amid a chorus of giggles. Expect for Dex, who’s throws just the same with his right hand as his left. It doesn’t take long for Teddy to find the similar sounds between ambidextrous and Poindexter, and before long he goes from Billy to Dex.

Baseball doesn’t really do it for Dex though, and by the time he turns ten his parents realize their little boy needs to find an activity were he can get out a little bit more aggression. He isn’t a hot head, necessarily, but he’s quick to defend himself and his family, and way too used to being able to solve disputes with his sibling with claws and teeth and scratches that heal before their eyes. Football doesn’t go over well (Dex accidentally pops four balls with his claws) and basketball would only be more of the same. Soccer doesn’t have enough padding to protect the _other_ kids from Dex and his superhuman strength, so on a whim Colleen buys Dex and his brother Caleb hockey sticks.

Uncle Tim takes Dex and Caleb out to the frozen lake and helps them lace up their hand-me-down figure skates. It’s freezing cold and Dex is more than a little annoyed that all the other siblings and cousins are at home in front of the fire place while him and Caleb are out here freezing their butts off. But Uncle Tim ignores his pouty face, and shows him how to hold the stick, and how to skate like he means it, and somewhere over the next two hours Dex falls in love. Caleb, the sole fully human Poindexter/Cote, falls in love too, his laugh echoing across the empty lake as he chases after the puck. Their parents manage to find two second hand sets of gear for them, and they start to practice every day on the lake. Caleb helps Dex figure out where he needs to exercise more control and how hard he can get away with hitting, and Dex pushes Caleb to skate faster and harder.

The next fall they both join the local recreational team (much to the joy of the coaches struggling to keep the program alive). While checking is definitely discouraged, Dex is still able to get out his energy on the ice, playing hard and fast until the exhaustion hits. It takes a couple of years of switching around, but eventually Dex settles into the position of a defensemen, while Caleb – light and quick on his skates – finds his place as right winger. Hockey becomes life for Dex, an obsession almost. The older he gets the harder he works at it, learning how to fall soft and get up fast so no one notices his healing bones. Dex makes varsity as a freshman, and when Caleb starts high school a year later he follows in Dex’s footsteps. Dex’s senior year, he and Caleb serve as co-captains.

So really, going to Samwell University to play hockey doesn’t have anything to do with trying to rebel against his alpha. Sure, growing up in Kat’s shadow, with all the expectations on his shoulders for being her second in command when the time comes, it might be nice to escape the pack. But to Dex, being a hockey player comes before being a werewolf, and he’s not about to let his dreams go just because of a little risk.

\--

Dex tries to act tough when his mom hugs him goodbye, but he knows she can smell the anxiety on his skin and hear the nerves in his heart beat. She’d probably be able to tell even if she wasn’t a werewolf, she is his mom, after all.

“I’m so proud of you honey,” she whispers, dark brown eyes going watery with tears. “Promise me, if anything even _feels_ wrong, you’ll call me.” Dex nods against her hair, willing back his own tears. “ _Billy_. Look at me.” Dex pulls back slightly and looks down at her, not at all surprised to find her eyes burning red. His own flash yellow in response.

“Yeah, Ma, I promise,” he mutters, biting at the insides of his cheeks.

“And don’t forget to text your sister,” Colleen adds, patting him firmly on the arm. “I don’t think either of you are prepared for this.”

“Yeah, okay, _bye mom_.”

“Oh and you know your father likes it if you-“

“Ma, if you don’t leave now you’re going to hit rush hour traffic,” Dex smirks, watching the way his mother’s eyes narrow. “I love you, have a safe trip.”

She maintains the glare for a second before reaching for his shoulder and pulling him down, planting a soft kiss on his cheek. “Love you too kiddo. I’m just a phone call away.” Her smile trembles as she steps away, the smell of tears drifting up towards Dex’s nose.

He watches her walk off through his tears, claws sinking into his palms as he tries to keep himself in check. It takes a few minutes to get himself back together, but the barren dorm room is soon enough to distract him. His future roommate is sure to think he’s weird, with piles of blankets on his bed (that smell like home) and hockey posters plastered all over the walls. He tapes a few pictures of his family up there, but they’re all kind of weird, actions shots or ones where no one’s looking at the camera. Lense flare is a bitch when it comes to glowing eyes – Dex had to start purposefully looking at the ground for school photos – but candids are better anyways.

Kat would probably make fun of him for _nesting_ , or whatever, but Dex would probably just turn around and make fun of her for being a werewolf named _Kat_ and… Fuck. He really misses his sister. With a sigh he collapses onto his bed, burrowing down into his blankets and pillows and closing his eyes. If he tries really hard, he can pretend he’s still at home in the bedroom he shares with Caleb, not 300 miles away in Massachusetts.

\--

He meets the guys the next morning.

No other werewolves, he knows that for a fact, and none of them seem to be looking at him funny, so hopefully nobody who even knows the supernatural exists, either. Under normal circumstances he likes to take his time and catalogue people, listen to their heart beats and dissect the layers of scent that cling to them. But here everything smells like sweat and gear, and _Jack Zimmermann_ is talking, and there’s too many things for Dex to focus on.

Over the next few weeks he becomes sure of three things. 1) Eric Bittle is not entirely human, 2) Larissa Duan is most certainly a Druid, and 3) Derek Fucking Nurse is the most annoying person he’s ever met in his life.

**Me: I think…. One of the guys on my team is like…. A witch**

Dex shoots the text off to his sister as he sits in the Haus kitchen, watching Bitty make pie. He somehow knew, without asking, that lemon meringue is Dex’s favorite, and then proceeded to claim that Dex had _told_ him that. But Dex knows he never said that, and Bitty’s heart beat skips over the words, and he doesn’t know what to do with that information. Not to mention the fact that the first time he came into the haus he just… couldn’t enter the kitchen. It didn’t hurt, and there wasn’t a physical barrier, but his feet just refused to move over some invisible line on the floor. Bitty had frowned at him, before softly _inviting_ him to enter the kitchen. And suddenly, it was ok.

**Kat: does he wear a pointy hat**

**Kat: is there a cat following him around????**

**Kat: IS THERE A CAULDRON IN HIS DORM???**

Dex scowls at his phone, mentally cursing his sister and her general obnoxiousness.

**Me: fuck off. I’m being serious. Are witches a thing? How are they different from druids?**

He feels satisfied when the little typing bubble pops up and stays up, meaning (hopefully) Kat is actually trying to give him a valid response. He squints at the counter where Bitty is working, tilting his head slightly. It almost looks like the meringue is whipping himself. He blinks a few times, and when he finally focuses back in Bitty’s hand is back on the whisk.

**Kat: Witches /are/ a thing. Druids can use magic to a certain extent, with the goal of maintaining balance – within the supernatural world as well as between the supernatural and the humans. Witches don’t really have any kind of goals like that, or limits to their powers, though their magic usually centers around something.**

Dex glances back to Bitty, then to empty mug of tea that had tasted exactly the way his grandmother used to make it.

**Me: like the kitchen?**

He’s not all that surprised when his phone starts to buzz incessantly, Kat’s name flashing on his screen. Dex sighs and excuses himself, not answering until he’s leaning against the porch rail.

“Katherine,” he sighs, taking a deep breath and instantly regretting it. There’s something dead under the porch, a small rodent probably, but it stinks something awful.

“Is this witch dangerous?” Kat asks, her voice almost panicked. “Do you need me to come down there and check it out? Are you sure you will be okay?”

“Kat, I’m fine.” Dex frowns at the front lawn, a little bit concerned that his sister is so concerned. “You sound like Ma.”

“I’m allowed to be worried about you, asshole,” she huffs, but Dex can still hear the worry in her voice. “Are you sure he’s a witch.”

“I mean, I think so.” Dex glances over his shoulder quickly before lowering his voice. “I mean, he knew what my favorite pie was without asking? And the tea he gave me tasted just like Gram used to make it? And at first, I just _couldn’t_ enter the kitchen? But I think that might have been the druid helping him out.”

“ _The druid?!_ ” Kat hisses, her voice jumping an octave. “What kind of school is this? I think I need to-“ Dex stops listening to her as a handful of heartbeats draws closer. He doesn’t recognize them until he starts to hear the low murmur of voices and occasional laughter, and by that point, Shitty, Lardo, Ransom and Holster are rounding the corner. Lardo’s _looking_ at him, in that way she has, like she knows absolutely everything about him.

“Yeah Kat,” Dex cuts into the middle of her panic induced babble. “I’m fine, and I gotta go. Love you. Bye.” He hangs up without listening to what he’s sure is the scolding coming from the other end, instead trying to arrange himself in some way that doesn’t look nearly as guilty as he feels. Judging by the look on Lardo’s face, she’s not at all buying it.

Ransom and Holster don’t seem to notice though, ruffling Dex’s hair as they step up onto the porch and drag him inside. Dex lets them, stuck somewhere between his yearning for physical touch and his unease at being touched by strangers. He’s sure he looks vaguely uncomfortable, but at least his eyes aren’t glowing and his fingernails are decidedly human. His eyes narrow as Ransom and Holster practically carry him into the kitchen. There’s _four_ pies cooling on the counter. Dex is sure he only saw Bitty put _one_ in the oven. But he can still feel Lardo’s eyes on him, so he keeps quiet.

Dex obviously suspects something’s up with Larissa Duan from day one. Her heart beat stays too steady, like she’s practiced controlling it, and she always smells like fresh dirt and herbs, much like his emissary back home. The way she looks at him freaks him out a bit too, it’s like she _knows_ , even though he’s sure he hasn’t so much as flashed his eyes in front of her. Which means he tries to avoid her as much as he possibly can, which probably seems suspicious. And also means he hasn’t been able to confirm his hunch.

In a turn of events that he probably should have predicted, Lardo comes to him.

He’s lying on his bed working on a calculus problem set, when someone knocks on his door. It startles him, the heartbeat, scent, and slow, even breaths coming out of nowhere. He knows it’s her before he’s even off the bed, the air crackling in his bedroom in a slightly ominous way. If Kat were here she’d probably try to convince him to hide under the bed and let her handle it. But she’s not, and Dex has never been all that good at following her orders anyways.

When he swings open the door, Lardo raises her eyebrows, looking pointedly at his hand resting on the frame. Dex realizes belatedly that his claws are extended, and he jolts back, hastily hiding his hand behind his back.

“Slick, Poindexter,” Lardo smirks, slipping past him into the room as if she were invited. He warily watches her survey the space, surprised to see her expression soften at the pile of blankets on his bed and the few pictures taped to the walls. She hums softly before straddling his desk chair, arms and chin resting on top. “So obviously I know,” she starts, piercing him with her gaze, like she’s daring him to try and freak out on her.

“Okay,” Dex sighs, dropping down onto the edge of the bed. “What… why… I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything.” She tilts her head slightly. “Show me, though.”

“What?” Dex jerks his head up, alarmed. No one has asked him that since he was five and learning how to control the shift.

“Come on brah, when was the last time you shifted?” She’s looking at him like he’s dumb, which is honestly kind of rude, but she does have a point. He hasn’t shifted since the last full moon when he was home. He had camped out with Kat and Caleb, and of course Maggie, Kelly and Colin had tagged along too. It was the last time he’d been able to be himself, snarling and flashing his eyes at his siblings, being able to tackle his youngest brother Colin without worrying about hurting anyone. And Lardo probably has a point, maybe he _should_ shift every once in a while. But still, he’s been a werewolf all his life, it’s not like he was bitten yesterday.

“This is unnecessary,” he grumbles, just to make his point. But he sighs and does what she asks, letting his eyes burn an unnatural yellow, fangs dropping and cheeks prickling as hair spreads down the sides of his face. He lets his claws flick out one by one, only showing off just a little bit. Everything seems a little bit sharper, the smell of Lardo’s soap and the dirty socks hiding under his roommate’s bed. But a weight seems to lift from him, shoulders relaxing even as his feet plant more firmly on the floor. Lardo’s just watching him, though there’s a pleased tilt to her smile. “Happy?” He growls through his teeth, grinning widely with all of them just to be an ass.

“Impressive,” Lardo says, sounding exactly the opposite as he slowly pulls the shift back in, features returning to normal.

“I was born, not bitten,” he snaps, which just makes Lardo roll her eyes.

“Better than all those poor bitten kids, are you?” She asks, challenging him with her eyebrows.

Dex sighs and rolls his own eyes. “That is _not_ what I said.” He fixes her with a glare. “Anything else I can help you with, or are you just going to continue with the holier than thou thing that all druids seem to operate on?”

That earns him a grin, which is both pleasing and slightly terrifying.

“How’d you know?” Lardo asks, still grinning, which is definitely terrifying.

“You smell like dirt and magic,” Dex shrugs. “And I think you put the wards on the kitchen for Bitty.”

“Why do you think it was me and not him?”

Dex gives her a _look_. “I’m pretty sure Bitty’s like a kitchen witch. And his magic is all _nice_ and stuff. Wards aren’t _nice_.”

“I think that’s all perspective, bro,” Lardo says, her grin diminishing to something a bit more natural. “But you are right, about me. And Bits… maybe.” She tilts her head, gaze steady like she’s looking right through him. Probably analyzing his aura or some weird shit. “I’m not sure on Bitty. I don’t think Bitty’s sure on Bitty. I don’t think it was hereditary or anything like that like it was with you and me.” She shrugs. “But you can tell your alphas that he’s harmless.” She flashes that grin again.

“ _Alphas_? I only have _one_ alpha and that’s my mom and she doesn’t even-“

“Your mom _and_ your sister,” Lardo cuts him off as she swings back to her feet. “I do my research dude, I knew all about your pack before you even started here.”

Dex glares at her, though it feels kind of like he’s slipping into a pout. “Kat is _not_ an alpha.”

“She’s yours though,” Lardo says from the door, smirking over her shoulder. “And you can tell her she can come check me out any time.” She fucking _winks_ at him, before slipping silently out the door.

Dex groans and flops back onto his bed. He doesn’t even know what to do with Larissa’s parting words, so he decides not to dwell on it. Besides, there’s bigger things to worry about, like the fact that he really needs to talk to his mom. Their pack has always been relatively good at keeping their secrets, well, secret. A large majority of that success is because careful records are kept regarding each outsider who _knows_. Dex has always been proud about never having to add a name to the list. That’s about to change. But in the long run, it will probably be good to have someone here at Samwell who _knows_.

The conversation with his mom (and Kat, because _of course_ Kat was involved) goes about as well as he expected. Kat freaked out a bit (a _druid_ Billy?? A _DRUID_! Do you even know what you’re dealing with?), but his mom stayed calm. In the end, Dex could convince them that neither Bitty or Lardo are harmful, and that it might not be that bad to have someone knowing his secret. After that, Kat wrestled the phone from his mom, and became far more interested in Dex’s new d-man.

Derek Nurse

Derek Nurse is the worst. He’s got annoying curly hair and ridiculous green eyes and a body that only comes from spending an inordinate amount of time in a gym. Nursey smells like coconuts, just a little, and incense sometimes, or weed. But it’s coconut always, almost like it’s his _scent_. But people don’t smell like that, people smell like _people_ plus the soaps they use and the environments they interact with. It’s _annoying_ , because usually people smell kind of gross, and hockey players definitely smell gross, and Derek Nurse does _not_.

And maybe that would be fine, if Derek Nurse was just a regular person. But no, he has to be the most obnoxious, pretentious, annoying human Dex has ever had the pleasure of meeting. He says that everything is _chill_ , even when his heart is racing and his chemo signals are going crazy with anxiety. Not to mention the fact that he’s always going off about privilege, when he went to some fancy private school and grew up in Manhattan. Sure, Dex knows that as a white boy, he will never understand the impact of racial privilege. He gets that. But even though Dex’s family is old, their pack stretching back centuries, they’ve never had money. No one has money in Maine, there’s just not enough of it, especially when the only job choices are working for a logging company or on a fishing boat. It’s not an easy living, or a good one, and Dex has never known what it’s like to _not_ worry about money. The issue of course, is that Dex knows that he's wrong. He's knows, deep down, that class privilege and race privilege are not equal things, and he knows that he should probably have a real, grown-up conversation about this with Nursey. But well... Derek Nurse is fucking annoying, and they can barely even  _look_ at each other without arguing.

And that’s just the start of their problems. There’s a chemistry between them that sizzles, Dex can sense it, humming beneath his skin. It’s just potential though, potential that’s becoming difficult to realize. They’re playing stills are totally different. Dex goes out looking for trouble, playing and hitting hard, using his senses to predict when a forward’s going to make a move and checking them before they can. Nursey lets the action come to him, moves with a finesse uncommon for defensemen. Their differences should make them a good team, but of course Nurse refuses to talk strategy. Of course, Dex’s thoughts always come to him right after a game or following practice, which is apparently Nursey’s time to “chill”, but _still_.  

Late one Thursday night in October, Dex is walking back to his dorm from the library. To a human, the campus would probably seem eerily empty, lit only by soft streetlights and not a person in sight. Dex loves the campus like this. He can still hear the sounds of people everywhere, muted voices and heartbeats, the smell of late night popcorn and cherry vodka surrounding each dorm he passes. It would be peaceful, except for the fact that he has Kat, Caleb and Kelly on the phone with him, and they’re grilling his ass.

“Oh my _god_ ,” Kelly practically squeals. She needs to quiet down, or Ma is going to yell at her. “Derek Nurse is _so_ hot.” The downside to phone conversations is of course, the fact that he can’t flip her the fuck off.

“ _Oh_.” There’s a scuffle on the other end, followed by a lot of giggling.

“This is weird,” Caleb says, predictably. “I thought – I feel vaguely uncomfortable.”

“Okay but, he is hot Caleb, look at him,” Kat says. “No wonder Dex can’t stand him, he probably wants to have his pups.”

“Ew what the fuck Kat,” Dex snaps, fangs slipping down just enough for her to hear it in his voice. “I do _not_.”

“Do you not have _eyes_?” Kat asks, at the same time as Kelly says,

“Well I call dibs then!”

“Absolutely not,” Dex growls, not even caring that his leisurely walk across campus has become more of an angry stalk. “None of you are ever meeting Nursey _ever_ , you got-“ He stops short, a pulse rabbiting too loud and too close. Too familiar. He pulls in a deep breath through his nose, knuckles going white when he picks up on coconut.

“ _I don’t know what you’re talking about_ ,” that all too familiar voice whispers, quieter and more vulnerable than Dex has ever heard.

“I need to go,” he whispers into his phone, hanging up quickly before Kat can start questioning him. Pocketing his phone, he sticks to the shadows, steps silent as he follows the sound of Nursey’s heartbeat. It takes a moment before he smells werewolves; the wild, tangy scent that can only mean omegas. Or at least, he’s pretty sure anyways, he’s only ever met an omega once, when that one showed up on their front lawn and tried to challenge his mom. Not good.

There’s two of them, and they’re not big, but the fact that they’re not quite human is quite obvious. Nursey looks small next to them, even with six inches and probably fifty pounds on each of them.

“His scent is all over you,” one of them snarls, eyes flickering yellow. Dex’s stomach drops, and he moves without thinking, _too fast_ , putting himself between Nursey and the wolves.

“Back off,” he hisses, keeping his back to Nursey as he lets his fangs drop and his eyes glow. The dark haired one flinches back slightly, but the blond just sneers.

“Poindexter,” his grin widens. “Long time no see.” Dex squints. It takes a second, but he remembers, two of the guys he’d beaten up after they messed with Caleb after an away game. They weren’t werewolves then, just regular, human assholes. But now, now it’s a different story.

“What do you want?” Dex says through his teeth. He lets the shift fully sink over him, kind of hoping that Nursey won’t notice the fact that something completely unnatural is happening right in front of his eyes.

“We don’t appreciate the way you treated us that night bro,” Blondie says, his eyes burning steady yellow now and his fangs reflecting in the moonlight. Behind Dex, Nursey makes a little noise, his heart rate jacking up dangerously high. Dex growls low in his throat and shifts on his feet, trying to keep himself firmly between Nursey and the omegas. His phone starts to buzz in his pocket, his sister and mom undoubtedly sensing that something is very, very wrong.

“What makes you think tonight’s going to go any differently?” He hopes he sounds more confident than he feels. He’s never had to fight other werewolves, not for real anyways, and especially not two at a time.

“ _Dex_.” Nursey sounds scared, and small, so small, and Dex kind of hates it a lot more than he figures he should.

“Go home Derek,” he states, as calmly as he can, not taking his eyes off the Wonder Twins in front of him. Nursey doesn’t move, which isn’t all that surprising, considering he’s never once done anything that Dex has asked him too. Ever.

“Yeah _Derek_ ,” the dark haired one mocks. “Run on home where it’s safe!”

Dex can’t help but roll his eyes at that one, cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders a bit for show. It’s kind of for his own benefit, like maybe if he acts all confident he can actually do this. “So who’s first,” he asks, not at all surprised when Blondie grins and steps up, flicking his claws out in an exaggerated motion. Dex is on him before he can blink, grabbing him by the arm and flipping him over onto the ground.  The second wolf rushes him, and Dex slashes across his chest, sick satisfaction welling in his chest at the sight and smell of blood. But the wounds close quickly, so he grabs the guy’s arm, twisting it until it cracks. Over the adrenaline rush he can hear Nursey’s heart beating too fast and his breaths coming too short, and he knows that this whole thing is going to be disastrous. But he can’t focus on that right now, not when Blondie’s already back on his feet, anger seeping from his pores.

“Nurse, go home,” Dex growls again, hoping, just hoping, that for once in his life Derek Nurse will do what’s best for him. All he gets is a pathetic whimper.

“I think your human’s scared Poindexter,” Blondie sneers. Dex is on him again in an instant, this time punching his face, hard, grinning at the sound of cracking cartilage. Blondie falls to the ground beside his friend, who seems to be having trouble jump starting the healing to fix his arm. Dex considers helping them, since they obviously don’t have an alpha, but thinks better of it when Blondie spits savagely at his shoes.

“Just get out of here,” Dex sighs, pushing a hand through his hair. He realizes a little too late that there’s blood on his fingers, but oh well, he was needing a shower anyways. “I don’t want to fight you guys, okay. There’s no reason for it.”

“Wasn’t a reason for it last time either,” the dark haired one whines, face drawn with pain. Dex growls low in his throat, eyes burning bright.

“Last time, you fucked with my little brother. Nobody messes with my family, got it.” They don’t look as scared as Dex thinks they should, but they do shrink back slightly, so he takes what he can get. “This the part where you leave,” he adds, still glowering, and thanking the Moon that Kat and Kelly aren’t here to witness the dramatics he’s got going on. He’d never hear the end of it.

The omegas scramble to their feet, backing away from him until the reach the shadow of the closest dorm. Dex waits until their footsteps fade to turn around, stomach turning unpleasantly at the thought of having to deal with Nursey now.

When it comes to sharing this secret, Derek Nurse would have been the last person Dex would tell. For obvious reasons he would chose Bitty, or maybe Chowder, just because he’d probably think it was cool. But Nurse… never. He turns slowly, making sure his features are decidedly human before fully facing his fellow defenseman. Nursey looks… awful, tense and defensive, his eyes too wide and his jaw clenched. He smells like fear, and confusion, and _horror_ is written across his face in such a way that it makes Dex sick.

“Come on,” Dex says quietly, not daring to reach for Nursey or even step closer for fear of scaring him. “You really need to go home.”

Nursey straightens slightly and shoulders his back pack. He allows Dex to walk beside him towards their dorm, but he doesn’t speak. The lack of chirping and general annoyingness is unnerving. Usually Nursey’s doing everything he can to piss Dex off, but now… now he still smells afraid. Dex hadn’t realized that that is exactly the opposite of what he wants.

“I think… I think I got some bad weed,” Nursey mutters as they near the dorm.

Dex glances at him, debating the merits of trying to convince Nursey that he actually was having a bad trip the whole time. “You shouldn’t be smoking, you could get suspended,” is what comes out of his mouth instead. They push through the doors, and Nursey turns to him like he’s about to argue, eyes brighter than they were before and smirk returning. But then he freezes, fresh horror returning to his features as he really looks at Dex. It takes him a second, to remember the blood, to look down at his sweatshirt and see the dark red stains. It’s probably on his face too, and definitely in his hair, and…

“See you ‘round,” he mumbles, turning quickly towards the stairs. He runs up them faster than he usually allows himself, only pausing outside his room to make sure his roommate, Kevin, isn’t home. He’s not (he’s never home, thankfully), so Dex pushes inside, stopping short at the sight of himself in the mirror. And yeah, he does look a little bit like he just stepped out of a horror movie. But they play hockey, it’s not like Nurse has never seen a bloody fight before. _He’s probably never seen someone break a guy’s arm with his bare hands_ – says the voice inside his head that sounds annoyingly similar to Kat. As much as Nursey being afraid of him bothers him, the fact that Nursey could tell people worries him even more.

He pulls out his phone to find a handful of texts and a couple missed calls from Kat, and for the first time in his life he outright lies to her, assuring her that everything is fine, he just freaked himself out being on campus alone at night. Stripping down to his boxers, he heads to the shower, trying not to think too much about the way the water circling the drain turns pink. He can’t help but think about Nursey though, the honest fear in his eyes and the way his voice sounded so small. The rapid stutter of his hear still echoes in Dex’s ears, and he hates it more than he thinks he probably should. The right thing to do would be to go and talk to Nursey about this. That’s what his mom would tell him to do. Being open and giving full explanations always seems to curb any problems. Dex could let Nursey in on this secret, could make him the second person he’s ever told about being a werewolf.

Or he could do nothing. He could let Nursey think he’s on a bad trip, could try and make him feel stupid, could make up some alternate scenario that would make more sense than _werewolves_.

Nursey misses practice the next morning.

It sets Dex on high alert, and he’s nervous, thrown off by Nursey’s absence and the reason behind it. Except Chowder says that Nursey isn’t feeling good, and Bitty’s apparently already brought him a pie, and Dex really shouldn’t be worried. And he’s not worried, not about Nursey himself, obviously. He kind of hates the guy. He’s more worried about the fact that Nursey skipped practice in order to stay away from him. All practice he’s off his game, running drills with Ransom and Holster and fucking up more often than not. He hits the showers early, knowing deep down that he should probably call his mom or Kat and try to figure out what to do. He can’t focus and he’s jumpy, checking over his shoulder for lurking omegas. His classes on Fridays don’t start until the afternoon, and he’s unsure if he’ll even be able to focus anyways, so he heads back to his dorm.

Dex learned at quite a young age how to tune out things like heartbeats and whispers. It’s a necessary skill for a werewolf to live any sort of normal life. Whenever he’s inside the dorm, he employs this tactic as much as he possibly can. There’s way too many things going on that he never, _ever_ needs to hear. So needless to say, he’s not at all prepared to push open his dorm door and find Derek Nurse sitting on his bed.

The door slams shut behind him, too loud in the eerie silence of the room. Nursey looks… in short he looks terrible, hair unusually frizzy and dark circles beneath his eyes. He doesn’t move either, just stays staring down on the t-shirt he’s holding gently in his hands. Dex takes a moment to situate himself, setting his bag down on his desk and carefully hanging up his jacket. He takes in the uneven beating of Nursey’s heart, not _too_ fast, but off, somehow. He smells less like coconut than he usually does and more like not enough sleep and too much cologne, like he’s using axe to cover up the fact that he hasn’t showered. It should probably be gross, and Dex should definitely not want to go press his face into the side of Nursey’s neck. That’s weird, and definitely not a thing.

“There’s blood on my shirt,” Nursey whispers, finally looking up at Dex. “Which means that I wasn’t tripping last night when I watched you slash open some dude’s chest, and then break his arm with your bare hands.”

Dex stares up at the ceiling for a moment, hoping that some kind of divine intervention will happen so he doesn’t have to have this particular conversation. As could be expected, nothing happens, so he sighs a flops down into his desk chair, leaning his face into his hands.

“I feel like my life has suddenly turned into Twilight or some shit,” Nursey continues, his voice an octave higher than usual. “And I’m _not_ going to be Bella okay, that is _not_ my jam. And like, I’m totally not interested in hearing about how you want to eat me okay.”

“First of all,” Dex grumbles before he can think better of it. “I’m obviously like Jacob not Edward okay, vampires are creepy fuckers and probably not real.”

“I can’t believe you read Twilight,” Nursey says, eyes wide.

“I can’t believe _you_ read Twilight,” Dex shoots back. “Not to mention that it’s very entertaining for actual werewolves to read about some writer’s fictional werewolves.”

“You…” Nursey trails off, blinking up at him. He looks some kind of mix between lost, surprised and curious, and I takes a moment for Dex to realize exactly what he just admitted to.

“ _Shit_ ,” he hisses, pushing a hand through his hair. It’s probably sticking up all over the place now, it’s been over a month since his last cut and for some reason it grows unreasonably fast. “Is there any possibility you could just, forget the last ten minutes?”

“No,” Nursey answers immediately. His heart rate is starting to pick up again, body going visibly tense. “No, abso-fucking-lutely not. You’re a …. You’re saying that you’re a…”

“Werewolf,” Dex sighs, leaning back in his chair. He could probably just lay this all out, tell Nursey exactly what being a werewolf consists of, how it makes him different from a regular human. But he has no idea where to start, or what he’s allowed to divulge, or if he even _wants_ to tell Nursey. What he _wants_ is his sister to suddenly appear and make this all better for him.

“Werewolves aren’t _real_ ,” Nursey says. “They’re not. It’s… that’s… that’s _fantasy_.”

“Okay,” Dex nods, smiling at him without parting his lips. “Cool. So then you’re all set, right?”

“No,” Nursey shakes his head, pushing himself to his feet. Dex sometimes forgets, how _big_ he is, and it’s so weird to see his hands shaking with nerves. “No I am _not_ all set, what the fuck Poindexter?”

“What do you want then?” Dex asks, helpless. He’s so far out of his depth here it’s not even funny.

“I want… I just… I don’t understand?” Nursey looks at him with pleading eyes. “What are you?”

Dex shifts without really thinking, letting his eyes burn yellow and his features become distinctly lupine. Nursey doesn’t really start to smell like fear until he drops his fangs and flicks out his claws. It occurs to him then that this was a very, very bad idea, and that if his mom ever finds out about this she will probably kill him. “A werewolf,” he growls through his teeth, because obviously he cannot make any good decisions when it comes to Derek Nurse. Nursey’s looking a bit faint, like maybe he’s going to pass out any second here. He pulls back the shift, somewhat guiltily. “Just like I told you.”

Nursey blinks once, twice, three times, mouth open just slightly. “Yeah, okay, so… I’m just gonna go now,” he says, turning abruptly towards the door. The t-shirt he’d been clutching slips to the floor, but he doesn’t seem to notice.

“Please don’t tell anyone,” Dex mumbles at his back. Nursey doesn’t seem to hear him, already through the doorway and out into the hall. Dex doesn’t mean to focus in on Nursey’s heartbeat but he does, following the sound just to make sure he doesn’t collapse until he can’t hear it anymore. The past ten minutes replays in his head, and Dex groans. He has never fucked up this bad in his entire life.

\--

Nursey comes back to practice the next day. On the surface, he seems normal, making his usual stupid jokes and going on about how everything is chill. He smells like he’s showered, thank god, but Dex is more than aware of the fact that something is still off. Nursey seems to be placing himself between everyone and Dex. At first, Dex thinks maybe Nursey’s just trying to annoy him, but then he realizes that Nursey thinks he’s _protecting_ the rest of the team. Which, at first is kind of funny, but eventually starts to piss Dex off. He would _never_ hurt one of his teammates, and he doesn’t generally just go off on people. Sure, sometimes certain assholes get what they deserve, but it’s never unwarranted, and it’s rarely a _werewolf_ thing. Plus, if Nursey thinks he could actually _stop_ Dex, he’s got another thing coming.

The more he thinks about it, the more it pisses him off, and over the course of the next couple of weeks, even the natural chemistry Dex and Nursey had seems to falter on the ice. They still get to play in the first games of the season, because Ransom and Holster can’t actually be on the ice the entire time, but their performance is subpar. Dex can hear their teammates whispering about it, in the locker room after practice and in the Haus when they think no one can hear. His stress begins to build, because he needs hockey to be able to go to school here, and if they cut him from the team then he’ll have to go home and drive a log truck like his dad. Or go work for his uncle, and as much as he likes the ocean, perpetually smelling like lobster is not really his thing. So Dex starts studying harder than ever and running on minimal sleep, because maybe, if he gets good enough grades _and_ skates hard enough at practice, they won’t kick him off the team. He skates and he studies and he skates and he studies.

It’s Bitty, who notices that he’s losing weight. He pulls Dex aside after a practice, pushing a giant container of cookies and homemade bread into his hands. “You look like you could use some treats,” Bitty says all cheerful, but he can’t hide the way his scent goes sour with worry. Dex thinks about it as he walks back to his dorm. His sweatpants do seem to be slipping off his hips and he can’t actually remember the last time he ate a full meal. That in itself would be bad for a human, but werewolves burn more calories naturally, and he’s been exercising more than ever, and…

Needless to say, he’s not all that surprised when he gets back to his dorm and finds Katherine sitting cross legged on his bed.

“How do you people keep getting in here,” he huffs, letting his bag fall to the floor with a thud.

“Your roommate let me in,” Kat says, eyebrows raised skeptically. “You look like shit.”

“Gee thanks,” Dex grumbles, but he goes to her when she opens her arms, flopping down on the bed and pressing his face against her shoulder. Instantly the tension starts to leak from his body. Kat smells like home, like pack and werewolf and _Mom_. It’s beyond comforting, and not for the first time, Dex wishes he could bottle the smell so he could always have it.

“What is going on with you?” Kat asks after a moment, rubbing firm circles into his back. “We could all feel it, you know.”

Dex sighs and pulls a blanket up over himself, wrapping it tight. “You know a couple weeks ago, when I hung up on you guys?” He feels Kat nod, so he continues. “Well, I caught the scent of some omegas, and they had Nurse corned. They were looking for me, I think, could smell me on him from practice that day.” He swallows. “Obviously, I had to get involved, turns out it was those two punks that messed with Caleb last year after a game. They must’ve been bitten or whatever, and they were out looking for payback… Which doesn’t make _any_ sense, because they just got what they deserved.” Dex growls, not even caring that he can feel his fangs dropping. “Anyways, I tried to get Nurse to just leave, but he _wouldn’t_ , and then the two guys came at me and… long story short, he knows I’m a werewolf.”

Kat doesn’t say anything right away, in fact, nothing about her seems to change, which is downright suspicious and must mean she’s been working on controlling her body’s reactions to things. The whole thing is unfair, really, since Dex obviously has can’t hide his emotions to begin with, never mind control the way his body reacts.

“You didn’t tell mom he knows,” she says eventually, pushing at Dex’s shoulder until she can see his face. “Why didn’t you say anything?” Dex blinks at her, annoyed at the way he _wants_ to answer her. There might have been a little bit of merit to Lardo’s observation regarding Dex having two alphas.

“Because I handled it really badly, and Nurse got all weird, and we can barely even play together! And now I’m going to get kicked off the team and I’ll spend the rest of my life with fucking lobsters Kat! Lobsters!”

Kat sighs and sits up, crawling over him to get off the bed. She starts rummaging through his bag, undoubtedly sniffing out the baked goods Bitty had given him. Dex doesn’t feel like rolling over to watch her, but judging by the little pleased hum she lets out, she found them.

“Is it just me,” she says a second later, returning to the bed with the goodies. “Or do these cookies improve the mood like, 800%.”

“Well, Bitty made them,” Dex mumbles, reaching for a cookie anyways. “He’s the kitchen witch.” He takes a bite, not at all surprised when a pleasant warm feeling starts to spread from his chest when he swallows the cookie.

Kat hums and eats another cookie, staring at him with her steely blue eyes in that unnerving way of hers. “Do you want me to talk to Nurse?” She asks finally, her jaw going tight. It kind of looks like she wants to _fight_ Nursey, which, while kind of a nice gesture, might actually be the opposite of what Dex wants.

“No,” he shoves another cookie in his mouth. “I want him to still like me… or,” he pauses to swallow. “Just, go back to tolerating me like before.”

“Can I meet the kitchen witch then?” Kat asks, tilting her head like a puppy. Dex _would_ point that out, but he doesn’t really want to have to wash blood off his sheets today. “And I just want to _see_ Nurse… he looks hot on Facebook.”

Dex hates her.

\--

Dex brings Kat over to the Haus that afternoon, after checking with Bitty to make sure he’d be home. Hopefully his timing is good, Ransom and Holster are prepping for a kegster the next day, and Shitty’s supposed to be helping Lardo with some art thing, and Jack… well, Jack is never a problem. He’ll probably be watching tapes or hiding in his room anyways.

Surprisingly, Dex can hear Jack’s voice in the kitchen as he and Kat climb the porch steps. The sweet scent of lemon meringue pie seems to seep from the pores of the Haus, and Dex can’t help but smile. Kat, on the other hand, seems skeptical, her eyes flickering slightly as they step into the Hause.

“There’s… a lot of non-humans that come through here,” she whispers, trying to place herself in front of Dex, like she’s about to protect him. Dex just scoffs and pushes past her, pausing at the edge of the kitchen. He can still feel Lardo’s wards presence, even though he can now cross them, he’s pretty sure Kat will be stuck. While the little brother in him wants to pretend like he has no clue and torture her a little bit, he knows better than to mess around with Jack here.

“Hey Bits,” he says, knocking slightly on the wall. “Can we come in?”

“Oh of course!” Bitty exclaims, bursting with his usual sunlight. “Come on in!”

Dex grabs for Kat’s wrist and pulls her into the kitchen. “This is my older sister, Kat,” he explain, releasing her wrist. “She came down to visit me, I’ve been feeling a little homesick. Kat, this is Eric, one of our forwards.”

“Oh please call me Bitty, honey,” Bitty drawls, shaking her hand with a smile. “What’s your favorite dessert? Let me whip something up for you? It’s peanut butter chocolate chip cookies right?” He’s already pulling ingredients out of the cupboards, everything he needs somehow magically there. Dex turns to grin at his dumbfounded sister. She scowls at him, before carefully arranging her features into a polite smile. Right. Jack Zimmermann is in the room.

“And this is Jack,” Dex continues. “My captain.”

“Nice to meet you,” Kat says, all polite as if she actually possesses manners to begin with.

“Likewise,” Jack smiles, like a full smile, and Dex tries to ignore the way Kat’s heart beat skips. She’s literally the thirstiest person he’s ever met. It’s disgusting. He glares at her just because he can, thankful that Bitty’s there to carry the conversation for them all.

As usual, there’s a fresh batch of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies before it should be possible, and Dex is kind of just basking in it. Kat seems comfortable too, her legs stretched out under the table and her head tilting back as she laughs. It’s kind of annoying, how much that affects Dex’s own comfort, but he can’t deny the way he suddenly just _knows_ that Jack and Bitty are two people he can trust.

He should have known that he couldn’t just have something nice like this, but he’s still surprised at the sound of footsteps on the front porch. The smell of coconut announces the arrival of Derek Nurse, and Dex goes tense in his chair without thinking about it. Kat notices, because of course she does, twisting in her seat just seconds too early in anticipation. Dex is sure no one notices, but it still makes him nervous.

“Yo-“ Nursey pauses in the kitchen doorway, adam’s apple bobbing as his eyes flicker nervously between Dex and Kat.

“Come on and have some cookies,” Bitty prods, standing up from his chair and guiding Nursey towards it. “Dex’s sister Kat is here visiting!” Nursey’s lips quirk up, for just a second, and Dex can’t help but hope he sees the irony in being a werewolf named Kat as well. But then a silence settles over the kitchen, and Bitty – clearly pre-occupied with making something _else_ (hopefully to ease the tension) – does not seem all that inclined to break it.

So Dex takes a deep breath, and decides to try and be a grown-up about this. “Kat, this is Nurse, my defense partner,” he waves his hand in Nursey’s direction, purposefully not making eye contact. “Nurse, this is Katherine.”

“It’s Kat,” Kat simpers, leaning obnoxiously across the table. Nursey shakes her hand, cautiously, trying and failing to not look at the cleavage Kat is definitely trying to shove in her face.

“Oh my _god_ ,” Dex sighs, pulling helplessly at Kat’s shoulder, “Stop it.”

“You’re like, even hotter in person,” Kat continues like she didn’t hear him, stilling smirking at Nursey as she slips gracefully back into her seat. She’s blushing, and it would probably be endearing if Dex didn’t want to die right now.

“…In person?” Nursey asks, gaze flickering just briefly to Dex.

“Well Dex talks about you _so much_ ,” Kat continues, her blush fading as she starts to grin. “So obviously me and Kel’ had to look you up.”  

“Oh my god.”

“And like, we figured that half the reason he’s always “annoyed” with you is because you were cute,” Kat keeps going, because she’s actually the worst person in existence. “But now I know it’s probably like, 95% of the reason.”

“I hate you,” Dex hisses. He peeks through his fingers at Jack, who looks caught between amusement and sheer uncomfortableness. Dex relates. So hard.

“But look how much happier you are now that I’m here,” Kat laughs, reaching over and ruffling his hair. Dex leans into the contact, enjoying her touch even though she’s annoying the shit out of him.

“Y’all are too cute,” Bitty hums, pushing setting several mugs of tea on the table. He distributes them in a way that looks natural, but Dex is sure each person got a very specific mug. “Are you staying for the party tomorrow night?” Bitty asks Kat, leaning easily against Nursey. It’s so casual and soft, and Dex longs to have something like that with his teammates. And Nursey. Very much so Nursey. Which is confusing and that thought can get locked securely away with the one about wanting to bury his face in Nursey’s neck. Fuck. Dex sips his tea in hopes of hiding the fact that his ears and cheeks are burning.

“Party?” Kat asks, waggling her eyebrows at Dex. “I’m always down for a party.”

Once again Dex, sighs. “I definitely hate you.”

Kat smirks at him before winking at Nursey. “In Dex language, _hate_ means love.”

\--

As usual, Dex’s roommate is nowhere to be found, and when Dex texts him he gets a cryptic response that seems to suggest that Kevin is staying at his friend’s dorm. There’s mentions of slightly suspicious activities, so Dex just accepts it and moves on to being happy that Kevin won’t be here later. It’s just that werewolves are cuddly by nature, it’s how they form pack bonds, and Dex is starting to realize he’s been kind of touch starved since he left home. What this means is that he and Kat end up snuggled together under his nest of blankets. It reminds him of Christmas morning, when all of his siblings would pile into his and Colin’s bunk beds, waiting anxiously for it to be six am so they could force their parents out of bed. For the first time in weeks he feels warm and comfortable and safe, and even though he’d never tell his sister this, he loves her very much.

He wakes up the next morning feeling refreshed. It takes some whining, but he manages to coax Kat into getting her lazy ass out of bed, promising her breakfast at the dining hall if she goes skating with him. He _might_ have to yank the blankets off her in the end, but eventually they end up at Faber. Dex asks Bitty if Kat can borrow his skates, and with only a little bit of groaning from Kat, they finally make it out onto the ice. The rink is empty with the exception of the two of them, early morning sunlight filtering in through the giant windows. It’s freeing, to be able to skate as fast as he wants, and charge at Kat as hard as he wants without fear of hurting her. They race back and forth across the ice, eventually pulling out a couple of sticks so that Dex can practice some drills.

Kat isn’t really good at hockey, not like Colin or Dex, but her inhuman reflexes make her a worthy opponent. She can take checks too, though Dex does go a little bit easy on her (mostly because she can definitely kick his ass and he’s not looking for humiliation today). At one point, he thinks he smells coconut, but when he glances towards the stands he can’t see or hear anything, so he pushes it out of his mind.

Dex takes Kat back to the dorm so they can shower, leading her to the girls’ bathroom on his floor and instructing her not to do anything weird. For the first time in his life he’s glad that they look so much alike, so he gets to avoid having any awkward ‘this is my sister not my girlfriend conversations’.

The rest of the day seems to fly by. Dex shows Kat around campus, and they stop by the Haus for lunch. Ransom, Holster, and Shitty are all there this time, the three of them annoyingly charmed by Kat. She keeps looking at Ransom with her head tilted to the side, but Dex can’t be sure if it’s because she thinks he’s hot or for some other, more ominous reason. They pass Lardo on the way out, and she and Kat have a little stare down that includes some very obvious elevator eyes from both parties. Dex is Not Amused.

“Something’s up with _Justin_ ,” Kat says once they’re back in his dorm. “He’s like…”

“Really hot?” Dex offers distractedly, flipping through his calculus book.

‘Well duh,” Kat snorts, flopping back onto his bed. “But something’s like, not human about him, either. But he doesn’t seem harmful or anything.”

“Rans is awesome,” Dex says. “But yeah, I have gotten a bit of a vibe.”

“Your druid gives off _mad_ vibes though,” Kat huffs. Dex turns around in time to see her cheeks burn red. “She’s sketchy.”

“Is she sketchy or do you have a crush?” Dex teases. He gets a snarl and bright yellow eyes for that, but he considers it payback for her stunt at the haus the day before.

Dex considers trying to convince his sister to just skip the kegster, but he knows it would be helpless, and just end with the two of them pissed off at each other. She takes _forever_ doing something with her hair, and it ends up hanging straight down her back like it always does ( _no Dex I get cow licks and my hair is wavy not straight, you obviously don’t understand_ ). Dex himself just puts on a clean shirt and runs a hand through his hair.

“Please don’t embarrass me,” he pleads as they walk across the dark campus. “I don’t need to become known as the guy with the crazy sister, okay?”

“I’ll be good,” Kat says, her smirk anything but sincere.

It goes about as well as could be expected.

Dex isn’t a huge fan of parties, with too many bodies and sounds and smells making it a bit of a sensory overload. Not to mention that his body burns off alcohol too fast, so he can’t even get a buzz to kind of dull his surroundings a bit. But this time he has Kat with him, and it’s infinitely more fun when you have another sober person to commiserate with.

Kat disappears after a couple of hours, but Dex catches a glimpse of her on the porch swing with Lardo, deep in conversation. He considers going out there and butting in on their conversation, but in the end decides to let them be. Without Kat the party seems too loud, and he feels kind of lost, all alone in a sea of drunken bodies and sickly sweet smelling tub juice. He slips up the stairs unnoticed, pushing open the window at the end of the hall and climbing out onto the reading room. There’s a pile of blankets out there that smell like weed and Shitty, and Dex wraps one around his shoulders to ward off the late fall chill. He can hear his sister and Lardo whispering below him, but if he doesn’t listen too hard he can’t make out the words.

Having Kat come visit has returned balance to his life, but he can’t help but feel like something is still _off_. He thinks about it and thinks about it, until he remembers the look on Nursey’s face before he’d left his dorm room weeks ago. They have barely spoken since, and Dex misses him more than he has any right too. The thing is, he kind of _liked_ how annoying Nursey was, kind of liked the way his eyes crinkled in the corners and the way he’d argue so passionately about everything and anything.

The truth of the matter is, he likes Nursey.

He likes the way he smells and the sound of his laugh, likes the way he gets under Dex’s skin more than anyone ever has. He definitely does _not_ like the way things stand between them now.

The front door of the Haus opens below him, and Dex straightens up when Lardo and Kat go abruptly silent.

“Yo,” a voice that can only be Nursey says. “Have you guys seen Dex?” A silence follows his question, and Dex just knows his sister is listening for his response.

“I’m up here Nurse,” he says, just loud enough to be heard. There’s another silence, in which he assumes Nursey and Lardo are making faces at each other, before the Haus door closes again. “You two better not eavesdrop,” Dex adds, slapping the roof for emphasis. “Take your evil plans elsewhere.”

Kat laughs, loud and clear in the night. “Don’t scare him off this time!” She sings, before the swing creaks. Dex listens carefully for the door to open and makes sure their heartbeats truly fade into the party before he lets himself relax. But then he remembers that Nursey’s probably coming up here, and he has no idea what is going to happen. Once again he’s totally unprepared, and he might fuck this up and-

“Hey.”

He turns over his shoulder to find Nursey sticking his head out the window almost shyly.

“Hey,” he says back, unable to keep the smile from pulling at his lips. “There’s more blankets, if you want to join…”

“These are Shitty’s weed blankets,” Nursey says as he climbs out the window, settling down onto the roof much closer than Dex expected him to.

“I can tell,” Dex replies. Nursey smells so good right now, better than usual, he thinks, and all Dex want to do is curl up on top of him and breathe it in. “I’m sorry,” he says instead, staring hard at the streetlight in front of the LAX house. “For like, freaking you out last week.”

“This is weird, right?” Nursey says, the bump of the bass drum shaking the house below them just a little bit.

“What’s weird? You and me talking? Or the whole… _me_ thing?” Dex shoots back, reclining on his elbows.

“Both, I guess,” Nursey sighs, mimicking his pose. Dex can’t help but look at him, the elegant grace of his profile and the long lines of his body. It’s been a long time since Dex has wanted to touch someone so badly, to trace the curve of their cheekbones and bumps of their spine. But Nursey, Nursey’s like art, like he was made to be admired. He may not be supernatural, but there’s just something about him that separates him from other humans. He’s fascinatingly beautiful while being endlessly frustrating.

“So you’re really a werewolf, huh?” Nursey asks quietly, glancing at Dex with a smile pulling at his mouth. Dex grins back, just wide enough that his teeth show a little too sharp.

“Yup, whole family is.” He pauses to glare down at the roof. “Kat’s probably listening in on us right now.”

“So like…” Nursey sits up and turns to face Dex, pulling his knees up to his chest. “Super hearing? And the teeth and the claws. And the eyes. I got that.”

“All of our senses are enhanced,” Dex explains, taking a deep breath through his nose. “Like, I can tell that you had chicken tenders and sweet and sour sauce for dinner, and I can hear your heart beat getting faster as I start to make you nervous.”

“I’m not-“ Nursey stops and rolls his eyes. “Whatever bro, I thought I was doing pretty good.”

“Well better than that time you were legit frozen with fear,” Dex grins at him, relief washing over him when Nursey laughs. This time the silence that falls is comfortable, even though they’re just sitting there, looking at each other.

“Can I see again?” Nursey asks after a moment. “I promise I won’t freak out this time.”

“You sure?” Dex asks, letting the blanket fall from his shoulders.

“As long as you’re not gonna like, attack me man.”

Dex rolls his eyes and shakes out his shoulders, slowly letting the shift come over him. He can feel Nursey’s eyes on him, so he keeps his own eyes closed, concentrating on letting each claw pop out one by one, focusing on the coarse hair spreading down his cheeks. When he finally opens his eyes Nursey’s still staring, but his heart beat is even, steady, comforting.

“Can I?” Nursey’s reaching out before he even finishes asking the question, his fingers brushing across Dex’s eyebrows and then down the side of his face. Dex sighs and closes his eyes, unconsciously leaning into the touch. Nursey huffs out an almost laugh, one finger sliding down one of Dex’s elongated canines.

“This is crazy,” he whispers, shuffling closer. “You’re like, unreal Poindexter.”

Dex laughs as he pulls back the shift. “So are you,” he whispers. Nursey’s hands are still on his face, soft and a little cold.

“Is it true what your sister said?” Nursey asks softly. He doesn’t move his hands, and he’s so close Dex can feel his breath on his face.

“Depends,” Dex murmurs, unable to look away for the soft green gray of Nursey’s eyes. “She’s going to be an alpha one day, but she’s a real pain in the ass.”

Nursey smiles, and it lights up his whole face. “She said that in Dex language, hate means love. Is that true?”

Dex’s eyes drift down to Nursey’s lips without permission, and he starts to blush, knowing there’s no way Nursey didn’t notice. “Have I ever told you I hate you?” He asks, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth. “Because I really, really don’t.”

Nursey’s still grinning but he pulls back slightly, his hand dropping from Dex’s cheek. “Good to know bro,” he smirks, his eyes crinkling in the corners. “And don’t think I didn’t notice how much you like to be touched dude, you’re like a puppy.”

Dex lifts his lips in a growl, flashing his eyes at Nursey. “Werewolves are tactile fuck off,” he huffs, pulling the blanket back up around his shoulders.

“So you’re basically saying you want me to cuddle you then?”

“I didn’t…” Dex trails off as Nursey closes the distance between them, slinging an arm around Dex’s shoulders. It’s… it’s nice, and Dex has to fight back the urge to just rest his head on Nursey’s shoulder. “You should know, I would _never_ hurt any of you guys okay? Like, I know what you’ve been doing these past weeks and like… I’m not some horror movie monster that’s going to turn on you all.”

“But those guys?”

“They were… I was born a werewolf; we’ve been learning how to control the wolf since we were small children. And my mom is my alpha, and she… this will sound bad, but she definitely has um, control over us? She can stop us with just her eyes, really. Um, but those two guys, they were what we call omegas. And they were just recently bitten, and I don’t think they have an alpha, and they just…” He trails off, not daring to look at Nursey, worried that the fear will have returned to Nursey’s eyes. “I guess we’re all monsters, really, but not all of us are terrible people.” He kind of feels like he wants to cry, tears burning at the back of his throat and he doesn’t know why.

“Hey.” Soft fingers tug at his chin, gently forcing him to face Nursey. “I believe you, okay?” His voice is so earnest Dex believes him without a second thought. “Also, not to be like, weird, but this werewolf thing makes you like ten times hotter than you already were.”

“What are you even…” Dex squints, having difficulty comprehending the words that just left Nursey’s mouth.

“I said not to be weird,” Nursey groans. “Why did you have to go and make it weird?”

“You’re really hot too, Nurse,” Dex grins, this time purposefully letting his eyes drop to Nursey’s lips. “Like, even with how ridiculously annoying you are and everything.”

“Okay that’s so, like, _rude_ , bro, like-“

Dex leans in and kisses him then, cutting off the rest of that sentence with his lips. It takes a moment for Nursey to catch on, but then suddenly he lets out this little gasp that has heat pooling deep in Dex’s stomach. Nursey tilts his head and then they’re really kissing, all lips and tongue and sharp nips of teeth. Dex has never kissed anyone like this before, never been so overwhelmed by the taste of someone else’s kiss. Nursey’s fingers slip up beneath Dex’s flannel, pushing until Dex falls onto his back. He lets Nursey climb on top of him, lets him press open mouthed kisses to the side of his neck.

“Is it okay if I mark you up?” Nursey pants against his throat. “I wanna, if it’s okay.”

“You can try,” Dex sighs, tracing his fingers along the lines of Nursey’s abs. He guides Nursey back up to his mouth anyways, kissing him slow and easy until their heartbeats sync. When Nursey rolls off him, Dex follows, finally pressing his face into Nursey’s neck. He smells so good, like coconut and warmth and summertime and _Nursey_. Dex sighs and wiggles closer, unable to stop himself from smiling.

“So like,” Nursey’s voice rumbles deep in his chest, vibrating against Dex’s cheek. “Do you howl at the moon? Is that like a thing? Because like, you should totally go for it.”

“You’re such an idiot,” Dex mumbles, but he sits up and lets his eyes flicker yellow. Nursey tucks his arms behind his head, grinning lazily up at him. Dex smiles back before turning his face to the sky.

Then he tilts his head back, and howls.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!!!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Lucky](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8429443) by [artanis_aman](https://archiveofourown.org/users/artanis_aman/pseuds/artanis_aman)




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